Dana Terrace

Creator, The Owl House Disney Channel

There are not many children’s animated show creators who confess that one of their biggest influences is 15th century Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch! Perhaps that’s why there is so much anticipation building around Dana Terrace’s upcoming Disney Channel series The Owl House. Terrace, whose show is slated for an early 2020 premiere, says she is inspired more by the work of artists such as Bosch, John Bauer, Remedios Varos and the puppetry of Jim Henson than any animated work. “There’s so much animation out there already that I’d rather look at what hasn’t been animated yet,” says the gifted 28-year-old Hamden, Connecticut native. “That’s why I love these artists.”

As a young girl, Terrace used to sneak into the living room to watch cartoons and copy what she liked in her flip books. “As long as it was animated, I was there — The

Simpsons, Pokémon, The Powerpuff Girls, South Park, Studio Ghibli films, everything,” she says. “When I turned 16, I made the conscious decision to go into animation as a career after someone told me I couldn’t. Since then, I’ve worked every day to get a chance to work in the animation industry and feel incredibly fortunate to have been able to turn this dream into a reality.”

After a few studio internships, Terrace landed a job as storyboard revisionist on Disney’s Gravity Falls when someone discovered her art blog and sent her a storyboarding test. She says she had a wonderful experience on that show and couldn’t have asked for a better first gig.

Terrace attributes the concept for her new show to three specific sources: “First, I have always wanted to tell a story about a rougharound-the-edges mother figure, based off of my aunt, nana and mother who raised me. Second, the main character Luz evolved from latenight conversations I would have with my roommate and close friend, Luz — how we would always imagine being whisked away to a magical world when we were younger. Third, I love Bosch’s little creatures and the crazy worlds he creates! I wanted to see that animated. So I threw all these ingredients into a pile and whammo bammo, out came The Owl House!”

When asked to offer some solid advice to newcomers, Terrace says frankly, “Learn how to discern constructive critique from harmful critique. Know your critic’s motivation. Are they genuinely trying to help you, or do they just want to put you down? Learning to distinguish from the two can save you years of heartache and help you pinpoint what you actually need to improve upon in your work!” ◆